Today is Ladies Day at Glorious Goodwood. The West Sussex track is on day three of the annual horseracing festival which began on Tuesday. The festival finale takes place on Friday with the Nassau Stakes the highlight on the day.
Opera Singer chases Porta Fortuna home in the Coronation Stakes (Pic – Megan Coggin)
Ante-post favourite Opera Singer faces nine rivals in the Qatar Nassau Stakes (16h35). A Group 1 contest for fillies and mares where the three-year-olds meet the older generation for the first time over ten-furlongs.
Aidan O’Brien saddles the three-year-old who was last seen finishing a length second behind Porta Fortuna in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The winner boosted that form with subsequent Group 1 success in the Falmouth at Newmarket in mid-July.
Opera Singer has yet to get off the mark in two starts this season, but she won three times during her juvenile campaign, including an impressive Group 1 success in the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp in October. Ryan Moore rides.
Emily Upjohn, the highest rated runner in the field represents the Gosden yard. Supplemented at a cost of £40,000, the five-year-old mare suffered a half-length defeat to Bluestocking in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh last month.
She must concede 8lbs to the three-year-olds, but her last run was also given a boost with Bluestocking running an admirable second behind Goliath in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot over the weekend.
Thursday is Ladies’ Day (Pic – Goodwood Racecourse)
French raider Sparkling Plenty attempts to emulate Goliath with victory here. She landed a hat-trick for her connections after victories in the Gr2 Prix de Sandringham and Gr1 Prix de Diane on her last two starts.
Coral-Eclipse fourth Sea The Fire and 1,000 Guineas heroine Elmalka add depth to this high-class renewal.
Aidan O’Brien steps out Jan Brueghel in the Group 3 John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes (16h00), run over a mile and a half.
Unbeaten in two starts at the Curragh over ten-furlongs, the Galileo colt is amongst the Ballydoyle contingent aimed at the St Leger later this year and should relish this step up in trip.
An action-packed five days (Pic – Goodwood Racecourse)
He takes on four rivals that include Derby fifth Sayedaty Sadaty and the Balding trained Bellum Justum who ran a good third behind Jayarebe and King’s Gambit in the Hampton Court Stakes at the Royal meeting.
Earlier on the card, The Strikin Viking could land the Markel Richmond Stakes (15h25). A Group 2 contest run over six-furlongs for juveniles, James Doyle rides the Inns Of Court colt for his retained employers Wathnan Racing.
His half-length defeat by the unbeaten Ballydoyle colt Henry Matisse at the Curragh in the Gr2 Railway Stakes looks the strongest piece of form on offer.
